Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Gasol avoids brotherly bragging

Grizzlies center Marc Gasol talks and texts nearly every day with older brother Pau, the four-time All-Star center for the Lakers.

But he knew better than to dial big brother’s cell phone on Sunday night, no matter how much he wanted to share the joy of his role in helping the Grizzlies get the first playoff victory in franchise history.

“I knew he did not have a good game, and I knew they lost,” Gasol said, “so I knew he wouldn’t be talking a lot.”

Marc Gasol made 9 of 10 shots and scored 24 points Sunday in the No. 8-seed Grizzlies’ 101-98 victory over the top-seeded Spurs in Game 1 of their first-round series that will resume Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Pau Gasol missed 7 of 9 shots and scored only eight points in a 109-100 loss to the No. 7-seed New Orleans Hornets in Los Angeles.

For one night, brotherly love won out over sibling rivalry. But Marc Gasol can take personal pride in knowing he accomplished something with the Grizzlies that Pau Gasol could not in six-plus seasons as Memphis’ starting center — a playoff victory.

The younger Gasol was a pudgy, 23-year-old 7-footer when he arrived in Memphis in 2008, part of the trade that sent his brother to the Lakers.

He has become one of the better centers in the NBA after dropping more than 20 pounds last summer and gaining confidence that he could play in the post. He averaged 11.7 points and 8.0 rebounds in 81 games this season, teaming with Zach Randolph to give the Grizzlies a beefy, 1-2 punch in the middle.

His progress and potential have been so impressive that Randolph made certain the Grizzlies intended to keep Gasol around before he agreed to sign a $71 million contract extension that will keep him in Memphis for an additional four years.

Randolph agreed to the new deal during the weekend.

“Marc is great, man,” Randolph said. “He has such a high IQ for the game. That’s what I love about him. He’s been playing so long and playing against older guys, because he was playing overseas. He’s a great player. I love playing with him. He plays the right way.”

The Spurs have a healthy respect for Gasol’s skills, though Spurs captain Tim Duncan admitted he occasionally wandered a bit from his defensive assignment on Gasol to keep an eye on Randolph, Memphis’ top scorer against the Spurs in four regular-season games.

“I gave him a bit of an easy time in there trying to have half an eye on Zach, instead of just focusing on Marc,” Duncan said, promising to have “a little better focus in that respect” in Game 2.

Spurs guard Tony Parker didn’t fault Duncan. Gasol, he said, simply had one of those “can’t miss” games.

“He got a lot of points,” Parker said. “He’s not going to play like that the whole series.”

Gasol understands his 90 percent shooting isn’t apt to continue through the series.

“That won’t happen,” he said. “I guarantee that.”

Blake will miss tonight’s game with the chicken pox

Backup Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Blake will miss tonight’s game against the Spurs — and potentially several more — after he contracted chicken pox.

Blake’s wife Kristen and also said that he didn’t get the infection from his three young sons. 

“And before anyone asks NO my kids didn’t give it to him,” Blake’s wife tweeted. “They were vaccinated and are healthy. No clue where or how Steve got chicken pox. 

“I’ll have him healthy and back in no time. Good luck tonight to the rest of the guys.”

Blake has struggled from the field this season, hitting 35.9 percent. But converted three 3-pointers against Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Also, he’s a better defensive player than Derek Fisher and likely would have matched up often with Tony Parker in Tuesday’s game. It will mean that Shannon Brown will get more playing time and could mean that Kobe Bryant could get some time running the point.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Lakers backup forward Matt Barnes and his availability will be a game-time decision. Barnes had surgery on the same knee three months ago to repair torn cartilage. The injury flared up again Monday, causing him to miss practice.

The Lakers come into the game with a five-game losing streak — longest in the Pau Gasol area. Coach Phil Jackson will be challenged to beat the Spurs with a limited rotation missing those two players.

Manu finds fourth-quarter mojo

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

ATLANTA — As the Spurs hung tight to another surmountable fourth-quarter lead Tuesday night at Philips Arena, the ghosts of late-game failures past began to creep into their huddle.

They talked about collapses in Denver and Memphis, giveaways in Portland and Houston, and two bad finishes at home that built a six-game losing skid.

Instead of running from those ghosts, however, the Spurs embraced them.

“If we don’t learn from that, there would be something wrong with us,” point guard Tony Parker said. “You have to learn from your mistakes.”

Sparked by the kind of fourth-quarter finish that had defined them in the best of times, the Spurs closed out a 97-90 victory at Atlanta that moved them a step closer to sewing up the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed.

Combined with the L.A. Lakers’ home loss to Utah later Tuesday night, the Spurs (59-19) moved 3 1/2 games up in the standings with four to play, needing just two more wins to secure the top spot and home-court advantage at least through the first three rounds of the playoffs.

The Spurs could clinch by the end of the week, on a two-game homestand beginning Wednesday against Sacramento and concluding Saturday against the same Utah team that just helped them out in L.A.

Tuesday in Atlanta, the Spurs helped themselves. Parker had 18 of his 26 points in the second half, and Manu Ginobili scored 12 of his 18 in the fourth quarter, as the Spurs did Tuesday what they could not at the end of March — close out a tight game on the road against a playoff team.

“Finally,” Parker said, with a sigh of relief. “It was a big win for the team and our confidence and to prepare ourselves for the playoffs.”

The victory was the Spurs’ second in a row on the heels of their epic losing streak, but unlike Sunday’s walk in the ATT Center against Phoenix, this one was in doubt in the fourth.

This time, there would be no forehead-slapping late-game turnovers. No silly defensive breakdowns. No Frenchman flying to the basket to deliver last-second heartbreak.

Tuesday’s finish, at least, had the hallmarks of the playoff-ready Spurs, starting with Ginobili.

With the Spurs ahead 65-64 entering the final frame, Ginobili — having scored six points to that point — erupted for 12 in 5 1/2 minutes to help push the Spurs ahead by 10.

The key moment came at the 9:05 mark, when Damien Wilkins hand-checked Ginobili at the top of the arc, putting the Spurs in the bonus for the rest of the night. Wilkins might as well have waved a red cape in front of a bull.

Emboldened, Ginobili began attacking the rim, finding layups and, when he didn’t, free throws.

“I saw they were in the bonus pretty quick,” said Ginobili, who was 6 for 6 from the line in the fourth. “I tried to take profit of it.”

On the other end, with coach Gregg Popovich dialing up a new defensive adjustment at every timeout, the Spurs began to get the stops required to maintain their lead and finish the game.

The Hawks (44-34) were 6 for 17 in the fourth quarter. Joe Johnson, who led Atlanta with 21 points, was 3 of 7.

When Popovich says the Spurs’ focus and decision-making was better Tuesday than in earlier implosions, the defensive adjustments were a prime illustration.

“I think we kept them a little off-stride changing it up,” said Popovich, whose team moved within a victory of the fourth 60-win season in club history. “When you do that, you take a chance somebody might get lost. They stuck together pretty good.”

At a timeout with 2:56 to play and the Spurs up 10, someone began rehashing their fourth-quarter not-so-greatest hits.

“We said, ‘We can’t mess this one up, too,’?” Ginobili said. “We had to finish strong.”

After doing just that, the Spurs — from Popovich down — took pains to reiterate they were not yet in playoff form. There are still edges to sharpen, questions to answer.

“We’re optimistic,” Ginobili said. “We believe we have a shot. But I don’t feel like we’re playing our best basketball right now.”

But neither are they playing their worst, and Tuesday, the Spurs closed out a fourth quarter like they hadn’t in weeks. If anything, at least, it proved all that March misery was good for something.